Revisiting where it all went wrong

Updated 1:21 am, Saturday, October 19, 2013

LeBron James and Miami won a hard-fought Finals against the Spurs, who have been haunted since.

LeBron James and Miami won a hard-fought Finals against the Spurs, who have been haunted since.

Image 2 of 3

San Antonio Spurs' Kawhi Leonard (from left), San Antonio Spurs' Tiago Splitter, San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker, and San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan sit dejected on the bench during second half action in Game 2 of the 2013 NBA Finals against the Miami Heat Sunday June 9, 2013 at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Fla. The Heat won 103-84. less

San Antonio Spurs' Kawhi Leonard (from left), San Antonio Spurs' Tiago Splitter, San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker, and San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan sit dejected on the bench during second half action in Game 2 ... more

Image 3 of 3

San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan sits on the bench late during the second half of Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals Thursday, June 20, 2013 at American Airlines Arena in Miami. (Edward A. Ornelas/San Antonio Express-News)

MIAMI — From the moment the final horn sounded on Game 7 in June in Miami, bringing down on them both a blizzard of confetti and the sting of defeat, the Spurs have been doing all they can to forget.

Manu Ginobili absconded to the Caribbean and then his native Argentina, hoping to outrun memories of the Spurs' bitter collapse in the NBA Finals.

Kawhi Leonard took his mother on a vacation to Hawaii. Tony Parker, Boris Diaw and Nando De Colo took out their frustrations on the competition at the EuroBasket championships.

Danny Green went to West Texas and Canada, and when that didn't help erase his memory, he traveled to China and Taiwan.

Then a funny thing happened in the Spurs' quest to escape their sorrow on South Beach. Training camp began.

“Now that we're back in the swing, the more we talk about basketball, the more we think about last season,” said Green, the Spurs' starting shooting guard. “The more we've played, the more we've remembered.”

It is a preseason game, to be sure. There will be no catharsis on the line. No revenge to be gained. It is unclear even which of the team's stars will play and which will sit.

But simply by entering the building and squaring off with LeBron James and Co., the Spurs once again will be forced to confront the NBA championship that got away.

“It doesn't change the process of what you're trying to do,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Thoughts will go through our heads. We'll say, 'Hey, we've been here before.' But it's not going to change what we try to do on the court.”

If Spurs players were so inclined, and also masochistic, they could embark on a tragedy tour of the Heat's home arena Saturday.

Here is the spot where Ginobili and Leonard missed key foul shots down the stretch of Game 6. Here's where Leonard and Diaw collided going after the same potentially game-sealing rebound. Here is where Ray Allen made his most spectacular 3-point shot since “He Got Game” to unbelievably force overtime.

Here is where Duncan, with Game 7 up for grabs, flubbed a gimme shot he typically makes in his sleep.

“I probably could have made it with my eyes closed,” Duncan lamented this month. “Maybe I should have closed my eyes, I guess.”

Here is the spot where the Heat's third NBA championship banner soon will be raised.

Popovich admitted to being haunted by the Spurs' Finals crash throughout the offseason, particularly an epic Game 6 meltdown that continues to leave scars.

The Spurs were ahead by five points and 28.2 seconds away from winning their fifth title when almost everything that could have gone haywire did.

For his part, Popovich drew his share of fire for keeping Duncan off the court with two key rebounds up for grabs.

“We could have won the championship in Game 6,” Popovich said. “There's no doubt about that.”

Of the Spurs' stars, Parker — who wasn't quite right after straining his hamstring in Game 3 — has seemed to have the easiest time moving on.

Part of his resilience likely is because of his breakthrough at EuroBasket, where he led France to the first title in its history.

Asked if returning to Miami would create a foreboding sense of déjà vu, Parker shrugged.

“It's a new season,” he said.

Saturday night, the Spurs will see their best-laid plans for turning the page from last season short-circuited by a preseason visit to their House of Horrors.

The wounds that time had just begun to heal will be opened anew again.

In order to begin to move on from their Finals pain, it seems, the Spurs must first go back to the place where it began.

“You try to move past it, but it's hard when you're a competitor,” Green said. “You can't help but think about it.”